1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-conditioning resistor for adjusting wind direction of air-conditioning air. The present invention also relates to an operating unit used for operating the air-conditioning resistor and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air-conditioning resistor is an apparatus for supplying air-conditioning air, which is controlled in temperature and in moisture content by an air-conditioner, into a cabin. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei-4-20949 (JP-UM-4-20949) discloses an air-conditioning resistor including a joystick that can control a vertical fin and a lateral fin simultaneously. According to the air-conditioning resistor of the aforementioned JP-UM-4-20949, tilting displacement of the joystick is electrically detected as a voltage. Then, a driving motor swings the vertical fin and the lateral fin by an angle corresponding to the detected voltage.
However, according to the air-conditioning resistor in the aforementioned JP-UM-4-20949, it is necessary to provide a clearance, which corresponds to the operating allowance, that is, to the trajectory of tilting movement, of the joystick on a surface of a panel member for avoiding interference with other members. In other words, when the joystick is to be tilted leftward with respect to the surface of the panel member for example, it is necessary to provide a clearance for accommodating the movement of the joystick on the left side thereof on the surface of the panel member. From the same reason, when tilting the joystick rightward, upward, and downward, it is necessary to provide clearances in each direction. Therefore, it is necessary to provide clearances in all directions from the joystick in advance. Therefore, when the joystick is tilted leftward with respect to the surface of the panel member for example, clearances in other directions, such as the rightward, upward, and downward directions of the joystick are useless. In this manner, the operating allowance of the joystick changes depending on the operating direction. As a consequence, useless clearances are inevitably generated.
According to the air-conditioning resistor disclosed in the aforementioned JP-UM-4-20949, the joystick is projected from the panel member like a rod. In other words, the surface structure varies extremely between the panel member and the joystick. Therefore, uniformity between the joystick and the panel member in terms of design was low.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 2002-2259 (JP 2002-2259) discloses an air-conditioning operating unit having two dials disposed coaxially at the distal end of the joystick. By rotating one of the dials, an exit opening for the air-conditioning air can be changed. By the other dial is rotated, the temperature of the air-conditioning air can be adjusted. By pivoting the entire joystick leftward and rightward, the mode can be changed between the outside air introducing state and the internal air circulating state.
However, the air-conditioning operating unit according to the aforementioned JP 2002-2259 has the same problem as the air-conditioning resistor according to the aforementioned JP-UM-4-20949. In other words, it is necessary to provide clearances for accommodating the tilting movement of the joystick both on the left and the right sides in advance. Therefore, when the joystick is tilted leftward for example, the clearance on the left side of the joystick is useless.